Halloween Ghost (I mean Guest) House

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders.  Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
–Antoine De Saint-Exupery



Halloween Ghost (I mean Guest) House – 5.5″ x 8.5″ Watercolor

Welcome to the 2011 Halloween Blog Challenge!  Hopefully we will have links to posts from other artists, with their contribution to the challenge.  I can’t wait to see what everyone does.

My computer will be down for hard drive replacement until this afternoon.  I’ll be around then, to see what you have done.  Booooaaahhhhhaaaaa! 

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger de Saint Exupéry  (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944, Mort pour la France),  was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He is best remembered for his novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) and for his lyrical aviation writings, including Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars.

He was a successful commercial pilot before World War II. He joined the Armée de l’Air (French Air Force) at the outbreak of war, flying reconnaissance missions until the armistice with Germany. Following a spell of writing in the United States he joined the Free French Forces. He disappeared on a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean and France in July 1944 and is believed to have died at that time.
His literary works, among them The Little Prince—translated into over 230 languages and dialects—propelled his stature posthumously after the war allowing him to achieve national hero status in France. He also earned further widespread recognition with international translations of his other works. His 1939 memoir, Terre des Hommes, was used to create the central theme (Terre des Hommes–Man and His World) of the 1967 international exposition in Montreal, Canada, Expo 67, the most successful world’s fair of the 20th century.

Halloween Blog Challenge

“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time.”
– Anna Freud



Halloween Party
5″ x 6″ Watercolor and Sharpie


Today is the day of the Halloween Blog Challenge.  An invitation went out within our blogger group (that means you!) to paint or create something Halloweeny.  Post it on your blog and comment here, with a link to your blog, so we’ll know where to go look at everyon’s art.

Ryan, from asmalltowndad blog, is away on his annual Halloween camp-out.   He did an amazing painting and you can go see it here.  You’ll LOVE it!!  I did, and I have flies buzzing around my head in it. 

I have had a lot of fun this week, doing all these little paintings.  I like the fun and playful side of Halloween.  When I lived in Huntington Beach, CA, there was always a party.  I have great memories of those parties.  I lived in a neighborhood close to the beach, where most of my neighbors were in their 20′s.  We made Halloween a fun holiday.

Now, I understand that the same (average income) young couples could probably not afford to live where we lived and the houses we lived in have probably been replaced by taller, fancier homes.  I was lucky to have that time in my life.  It was a terrific place to spend my 20′s.  We also had St. Patrick’s day parties, Cinco De Mayo, 4th of July….. you get the idea.  Yeah, we had fun!

About Anna Freud

Austrian psychoanalyst Anna Freud was a pioneer in the field of child psychiatry; she also worked closely with her father, Sigmund Freud, in developing his theories. She was born in Vienna in 1895 and fled to London with her parents in 1938, escaping the Nazi regime. When her father became sick with cancer, she took over his studies, becoming his intellectual heir. She founded the Hampstead Clinic to work with children. She died in 1982.